"Light Show (of Sorts) 2" - Intermittently from Friday, August 25, 2000 through 'til July 4, 2003, I projected a total of 10 multiple-projector light shows from the projection booth in the theater of the Andy Warhol Museum.  Sometimes the performers requested specific films from the Warhol ouevre, usually I projected my own work in addition to whatever was requested.  In those years I biked the 3.5 miles to work over hilly terrain with as much as 25 pounds of gear & movies on my back.  I combined my gear with what was available in the booth to create some fairly innovative & complex projections.  All this was done without credit, I was paid something like $25.  I might've stopped when I decided that it was time for me to be paid better.  

This particular light show was on Friday, September 1, 2000, & was for 2 bands whose names I, unfortunately, didn't document.  A slightly edited version of my "Mere Outline" description of this night is as follows: 

"I was asked, as a part of my job as a Warhol Museum projectionist, to show a Warhol film as background to an evening of bands in the theater. I came prepared w/ a VHS camcorder, slides, & scrap 35mm film. I used 2 16mm projectors, 2 35mm projectors, a slide projector, & the video projector. The video screened was a live feed from the camcorder that was videoing the whole screen & stage area, so it included the other projections & the bands in an 'infinite regress' (limited to whatever level of finiteness the resolution was capable of) &/or showed close-ups. I projected found slides from Iceland & Africa & slides I'd made myself of various special texts - such as Kneehigh Gang "Misconnecteds" etc..  The 35mm film used was from an animated Babar movie & a western. Since I could use both 35mm projectors simultaneously, in conjunction w/ anamorphosis, I could overlap the images so that they formed a "+" or an "x" shape depending on how I rotated the lenses. The Warhol films used were reel 1 of "Screen Test #2", reels 1 & 2 of "Space", reels 1 & 2 of "Hedy", reel 2 of "Camp", & reel 1 of "Kitchen". I milked the available resources fairly thoroughly thru all the permutations of projection combination."  

- http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/MereOutline2000.html 

This was only the 2nd of these projections for bands at the museum & the 1st one had only been a week before - as such, I was still feeling my way through the process.  For most of these I didn't know who the bands were going to be in advance so I cdn't usually tailor my prep to them.  Given the curator's preference for pop bands I often found the music uninspired - somebody strumming chords on a guitar, somebody singing, somebody playing a steady beat on a conventional drumset.  I had to keep the window to the projection booth closed to prevent the projector sound from being audible to the audience & I usually didn't have a feed from the band(s) so they were only heard very muted.  For this movie, I've cropped out much of the band's visibility (except in the 'infinite regress') & replaced the original sound, wch was mostly of the projectors. 

For the soundtrack I've used 2 recordings of mine that were recent to the time of the Light Show & that didn't have any special visuals for them already: "Rehearsal for Musician's Club Duet" - Warren Burt & tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - Melbourne, Australia, April 8, '000; & "Let Your Freak Flag Fly" - tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - 3CR 855AM radio, Melbourne, Australia, May 20, '000.  

I've always been scornful of pop bands whose idea of a multiple projection light show is just projecting various found films, such as menstruation films aimed at adolescent girls, on various surfaces around the band.  Nonetheless, that's basically what I did here - mainly improving upon that only by being able to use a wider variety of projectors & lenses than would usually be available & by using Warhol films in the Warhol theater in the Warhol museum.  As will be obvious, I also tilted the VHS camcorder to make the look of the 'infinite regress' more interesting.  Less obvious to non-projectionsts will be the toying with framing.  I even managed to squeeze in some VHS swish pans that included the booth & the projectionist out-of-focus.  At minute 40:10, during the intermission, you can see the ceiling-mounted projector being lowered as another factor in the projecting.  I also continued the projections during the intermission & after the 2nd band was finished playing.  

- May 13, 2021E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE 

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